


kinktober 2019 - day 25

by birdginia



Series: Kinktober 2019 [25]
Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Boot Worship, Canon-Typical Zenos/WoL, M/M, One-Sided Attraction, Pining, Unrequited Love, on a technicality - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-03
Updated: 2019-11-03
Packaged: 2021-01-21 04:17:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21293513
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/birdginia/pseuds/birdginia
Summary: Garlemald looks so much more beautiful when the crown prince has returned to it.
Relationships: Asahi sas Brutus/Zenos yae Galvus
Series: Kinktober 2019 [25]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1501079
Comments: 6
Kudos: 28





	kinktober 2019 - day 25

Garlemald looks so much more beautiful when the crown prince has returned to it.

Asahi knows it will only be a short time before Ala Mhigo will require its viceroy’s presence once more, now that his brief business in Doma is completed, so he has little time to come up with an excuse for an audience with Zenos yae Galvus himself. He knows better than to hope for an invitation by now.

He settles on drawing up a brief report on some recent Resistance intelligence, and claims when asked by a guard that it is too important to be left to a messenger of lower rank before striding confidently into Zenos’ rarely-used Garlemald quarters.

He drops to a knee the moment the door closes.

“My lord. I have—“

“_Spare_ me.” Zenos does not look up from his desk, strewn about with papers he clearly has no interest in. “I know why you’ve come.”

“Y-you do?” Asahi dares to cast his eyes upward to Zenos’ face—pale and elegant, and Asahi thanks every kami he no longer believes in for the prince’s habit of forgoing his armor in the capital—searching for any flash of the same joy Asahi feels whenever Zenos is near. Even the smallest hint of acknowledgement—he’d accept just a lingering glance—

“Your single-minded devotion has not gone unnoticed, Tribunus,” Zenos says, motioning carelessly for Asahi to rise. “That hungry ambition for a singular goal… it is almost admirable.”

Asahi straightens his back. His pulse jumps in his throat. “Almost, my lord?”

“Almost. The fervor in your gaze is pure, but your goal itself is of no interest to me.”

Asahi trains his face into neutrality, fighting off the abject despair at his prince’s words. If his affections are to be rejected, why now? Why not sooner, before Asahi could have come this far? He curses himself for being so obvious; if he had only restrained his emotions further and continued to invisibly rise through the ranks, he could have been able to stay by Lord Zenos’ side even without the prince knowing his true intentions. If he’d only—

“I have no desire to bring you any closer to your coveted position of power, no matter what flatteries and falsehoods you bestow upon me,” Zenos says. His tone is empty, devoid even of disgust.

Asahi blinks.

“My lord, I—do you truly think I seek power only for myself?” He can’t hold in a shocked little laugh at the very idea.

“Most men do.” At last, at _last_ Zenos looks at him, and his piercing gaze nearly sends Asahi back to his knees. “Who are you to say you are any different?”

“Lord Zenos,” Asahi says, offering the deepest Eastern bow his body can manage and praying that his words reach his lord, “the only power I seek is the power to serve you, in any way that I am able, in any form that pleases you.”

Zenos says nothing. The silence fills every corner of the room, impenetrable, and Asahi forces himself to endure. He does not look up from his bow, sweat beading on the back of his neck and running into his hair.

Finally, Zenos speaks: “At ease, Tribunus.” Asahi slowly straightens up, watching Zenos’ carefully. He is, as ever, impossible to read, beautifully opaque. “You understand it is difficult to believe, that one would seek favor with me for any reason other than their own standing.”

“I’m afraid I _don’t_ understand, my lord,” Asahi says, taking tentative steps closer to the side of the desk. “That anyone could know of such a great man and not long for his recognition, his praise…_that_ is what defies belief.” He steps around to where Zenos is sitting and drops gracefully to his knees, a more bold and desperate overture than any he’d ever considered before, but perhaps—perhaps boldness and desperation are just what Zenos seeks.

Zenos says nothing as Asahi lowers his head to the floor, but he does turn to plant his feet on either side of Asahi’s face. Asahi does not mask his reverence when he speaks again. “I swear to you, I seek nothing more than what I have at this moment.”

Asahi nearly jumps as the tip of Zenos’ boot comes up under his chin, turning his face up towards Zenos’. Out of his armor, his frame may be smaller, but his sheer presence still dominates the entire room, perhaps the entire stronghold. Zenos’ expression is one of suspicion more than anything else, and Asahi hopes that the truth is clear in his own. 

“To have finally found one’s purpose in another,” Zenos says quietly, almost to himself. “I cannot deny it is… a familiar feeling.”

Asahi’s heart jumps into his throat, and without thinking he grasps Zenos’ ankle, pressing a desperate little kiss to the tip of Zenos’ boot. It still smells of polish, likely applied just before Zenos’ arrival in the capital, the scent of power and wealth and the destruction of the unworthy, and Asahi can’t help but put his lips to it again.

Zenos closes his eyes, and Asahi takes that as a cue to continue, stroking the leather with his thumbs and slowly moving his hands up Zenos’ calf, carefully watching for a response. When Zenos opens his eyes again, he doesn’t look down at Asahi, his gaze unfocused and far away.

“To have found the one you most want to see grow and thrive, the one whose goals fall in line with your own as if fate itself chose you for one another…” Zenos suddenly grabs at Asahi’s hand as it starts to reach towards Zenos’ inner thigh, and Asahi yelps in surprise. “Is that what you believe you’ve found?”

“_Yes_,” Asahi breathes, staring up at his prince with open adoration, pleading with his eyes alone for the recognition he’s longed for, trying to twine his fingers with Zenos’ and finding no way to bend his grip.

“I feel the same,” Zenos says, and Asahi nearly cries out in joy—but the breath leaves his lungs as Zenos’ boot strikes the middle of his chest, knocking him backwards. “And at present, that person is not within my reach, so I would caution that you not remind me of how long I am forced to wait for our next meeting.”

Asahi remains on his back on the floor, too shocked and forlorn and _angry_ to move, until Zenos stomps on the floor with a harsh noise and sends Asahi scrambling to his feet. 

“Lord Zenos, I—“

“You’ve wasted enough of my time, Tribunus.” Zenos turns back to his desk, turns his face from Asahi to gaze again at nothing, his empty eyes hungry for something Asahi will never have. “I have other matters to consider.”

Asahi hesitates, but before Zenos can speak again, he rushes to leave the room without another glance.

_Thief_, he thinks as he pushes through the door and storms down the hall without a word to the guards. _Thief. Thief._

_The one who stole his heart will pay for this._


End file.
